NZ weather summary March 1963

[Rwood]

March 1963:  It was a dry month in most districts until the last couple of days, when good rains brought promise of improved autumn growth. In Waikato and Bay of Plenty dairy production fell off more rapidly than usual; elsewhere the dry spell had no serious effects. An exceptionally strong westerly gale caused some damage on the Southland coast on the 21st.

Rainfall: Rainfall was about 2/3 of average over the greater part of the country. It was mainly above average by about 50% on the West Coast and in northern districts of both Islands. Over most of the Auckland province and in Nelson and Marlborough half of the total for the month fell in the last 2 days.

Temperatures: Temperatures were up to 1F above average in the North Island and up to 2F below average in the South Island. This was the first month since September 1961 that the country as a whole had not been warmer than average. [There was a major volcanic eruption in Indonesia in February. This was later shown to have depressed global temperatures by about 0.4C over a period of about 3 years. In NZ the years 1963-65 were all a little cooler than the 1951-80 average and 1963 felt noticeably so after the warm 1962.]

Sunshine: In the North Island sunshine was mainly below average, and the deficiency exceeded 30 hours in Bay of Plenty, Taranaki and western Northland. In the South Island sunshine was mainly close to normal, but south Westland and parts of Central Otago were more than 20 hours above average.

 [Some totals: Te Hapua 192, Kaitaia 158, Kerikeri 171, Whangarei 161, Auckland 187, Tauranga 164, Whakatane 177, Taupo 172, Opotiki 179, Hamilton 173, New Plymouth 159, Masterton 178, Gisborne 193, Napier 177, Wairoa 194, Paraparaumu 193, Ohakea 180, Palmerston Nth 155, Levin 168, Wellington 200, Stratford 180, Ohakune 144, Wanganui 173, Westport 176, Hokitika 168, Greymouth 149, Haast 174, Nelson 209, Blenheim 209, Grassmere 187, Kaikoura 188, Mt Cook 141, Methven 175, Christchurch 168, Tekapo 216, Timaru 146, Waimate 145, Oamaru 139, Omarama 206, Dunedin Aero 173, Dunedin 151, Queenstown 205, Alexandra 212, Invercargill 160, Campbell Is 71, Chatham Is 123].


Sources: NZ Met. Misc. pub. 107 (Climatological table, NZ Gazette) and NZ Met. Misc. pub. 109 (Meteorological Observations) - additional comments by the poster.

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